Vermaelen or Santos at left-back for Arsenal against Marseille?
Whether he is the best left-back at Arsenal or not, Andre Santos has given Gooners some moments of brilliance, such as his smooth strike at Stamford Bridge at the weekend and his similarly well-taken goal against Olympiacos.
Unfortunately, though, he hasn’t yet provided a flawless game for the Gunners and his last game against the Blues included a shaky defensive display, regardless of his goal. He has speed and strength but perhaps hasn’t quite mastered the ability to use it to halt the opposition’s attacks, rather than creating his own. He found it difficult to deal with Sturridge and Mata – particularly in the first half – and there is no doubt that Andre Ayew and Valbuena would provide similar threats to the Arsenal back-line and could well target the former Fenerbahce player as a point of weakness.
In this case, should it be the returning Thomas Vermaelen who fits-in in that left-back spot? Having come on as a late substitute in the Chelsea win, he is back to fitness and would undoubtedly defend better than Santos. His speed may not be that of the Brazilian’s, but he has never shown any signs of laziness and so would still be more likely to get back into position quicker.
With Djourou looking likely to start at right-back ahead of the now recovered Carl Jenkinson, a full backline of central defenders could be on the cards for Wenger’s side tonight. Marseille are statistically more dangerous on their travels and a strong defensive set-up would be the ideal situation, but should Wenger stick to the team that conceded three but still won at Chelsea?
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Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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we shouldn’t risk vermaelen yet, maybe for wba… i’d prefer santos, he is slow, but he reads dribbles perfectly… we need vermaelen for the rest of the season, he shouldn’t be risked here… i would also rest gervinho here, and walcott against wba… rvp should be on the bench here, just like the stoke game, if needed do come on, he can’t get injured now… park to play, maybe chambo or miyaichi or both… also rosicky for ramsey, who also needs to stay fit… for the weekend maybe frimpong or coquelin for sond, for the same reason…
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Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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scezeney
jenkinson metersacker koscielney santos
song
benayoun rosicky
chambo arshavin
park.
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forget this subject why is van persie not on the short list for Ballon d’Or world player of the year wayne rooney and Luis Suarez are in so why not persie this is so wrong. who do i complain to, lets get a petition on the go. suarez is shit and rooney doesnt score goals aguero is in as well but deserves it. am i wrong
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get on twitter guys and send van persie for world player of the year shortlist to everyone
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How the f*** did neymar get on the shortlist for ballon d’or and not RVP?!?!?!?! That’s just a bunch of crap, I dont even care who wins it now van persie had the best 2011 I don’t believe it
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I say Santos.Vermaelen on the bench and sub at 70 for Mert.We shouldn’t risk Verm.Santos did make mistakes on Chelsea game,but overall he is good enough,but if Gibbs is fit,then it should be Gibbs.
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agree with big gun avoid playing the big clumsy guys with no pace i.e. mert( his actually good thou), djorou (unreliable muthafucker but can give good long balls), squillaci (the ultimate shi*c*nt plz consider playing urself B4 him arsene) we should play those fast technical minded defenders i.e. verm, kos, jenk & santos,
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Why put Verm left back…??? We need him CENTRE BACK!
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Excellent idea to play Vermaelen at Left Back. He needs match practise not rest now and anything other than a loss would be fantastic for Arsenal. I’m certain that Vermaelen will play from the start so the only question is where. If either Kos or Per are showing any signs of tiredness they should be rested and TV should be in at CB. More interesting will be to see whether RvP is rested for Park. Arsenal are almost through but a victory would mean that Arsene can play reserves in both remaining matches. I’d like to see him play so we can get the victory in the bag and RvP can be rested without risk for the next two.
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kozz and per need a rest
we need them to for bigger games.
i would take kozz off and but per and vermilen at CB.
or put vermilen and djoure at CB jenkson at right back.
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We need to win comfortably tonight so we don’t have a repeat of qualification last year, then we can afford to rest players and give other players a run out in the remaining games. It’s a tough one for Wenger but I have a feeling he will go with the same starting line up as the weekend. (maybe Tommy V in for Per and maybe Jenkinson in for JD ?) then rest players later in the game if we are up. It makes sense to get qualification pretty much in the bag early on as the fixtures list only gets more hectic as the season goes on. The team are starting to look very good now, midfield looks good, Park looks a threat up front, and I am more confident in the CB’s although the set piece defending by the whole team still needs serious amounts of work !
On another note Szczesny needs a decent song and what better song than “I am the one and only”…by Chesney Hawks…”He is the one and only….the pole between the sticks,…Szczesny the one and only… can’t get that ball between his legs”… (Or something like that )
Come on Gooners !!!!
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Seeing as Ajax never won a game with TV5 as their left back I question whether you want to stick him there. He was a much better centre back than he was a full back
Also the reason RVP is not on a Ballon D’or shortlist is because he didn’t win anything and was not as instrumental at a major competition for club or country. Sure Holland made the WC finals but even I will admit Sneidjer was the most prominent in that team at that time. I disagree with alot of the shortlist because half of them did nothing special in the last 12 months and that includes RVP but MOST of those on the list are the usual suspects who won something significant recently. This is the reason RVP has stalled contract talks – he’s a world class player deserving of a mention among the best but he hasn’t won anything for the past 6 years so he’s barely in the mind of anyone’s consciousness when it comes to these awards.
I’ll get lots of dislikes but it’s the truth – no matter how good you are, history remembers those who win something, not second or third place.
No one had a problem nominating Thierry because Arsenal won things and France were still a good national team at the time Henry was at his prime and they even won the previous WC and Euro so that was fresh in minds. It was unfortunate that TH14′s best chance of winning the WPotY came about the same time Zizou struck one of the greatest volleys in history to secure a CL for Madrid but Arsenal never won a CL and that worked against Henry when it came down to voting despite being the best striker on the planet at the time.
Sorry you have to hear it but this is how it works and how it has always worked – it’s a popularity contest about who boasts the most medals, accolades and titles over the last year or so.
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santos would be great if he came on as a sub in the last 30 min to add some fresh legs to the attack but still playing at LB so who ever is at LW can drift in.
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Why in the world would we play out best CB out of position?
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pathetic article!
you are already picking on a player who just arrived and probably have communication problem. still he’s better left back than vermaelen and gibbs.
are you missing clichy or you just found someone to blame. you will be the first to complain if wenger wasn’t playing him till he gets used to our style of play.
it will be interesting what you will write if park chu young starts 3 games without a goal, maybe you will say chamakh is better.
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vermalen as left back is a stupid idea ,he will only get injured
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